Thanks to his work (and Paolo Nagamura, and Benny Feilhaber, and Peterson Joseph, and even a little bit of Lawrence Olum), attacking KC up the gut is still a no-go. But attacking from out wide doesn't work so great, either:

Team

Headed Clearances

Sporting Kansas City

268

San Jose Earthquakes

221

Vancouver Whitecaps

213

New York Red Bulls

208

Portland Timbers

201

Houston Dynamo

198

FC Dallas

197

Colorado Rapids

189

Real Salt Lake

189

D.C. United

182

Montreal Impact

179

New England Revolution

175

Chivas USA

175

Columbus Crew

167

LA Galaxy

162

Toronto FC

162

Seattle Sounders FC

148

Philadelphia Union

141

Chicago Fire

118

Obviously, this doesn't mean SKC are unbeatable. They can be had, especially in transition, and their attack still isn't clicking the way Peter Vermes must have hoped it would heading into the season.

But they still get the basics right. And that's why they'll be at or near the top of the Eastern Conference through the rest of the season.

It's something of a transition year for Sporting KC, as they commit a little more fully to building chances from possession, rather than forcing chances via turnover.

That said, forcing midfield turnovers is still a huge part of their game, their high pressure still works, and someone still needs to do the dirty work in the midfield. Uri Rosell, the Barcelona product, has been more than happy to do that particular job:

Player

Recoveries

Touches

Rosell, Oriol

102

865

McCarty, Dax

94

699

Chará, Diego

90

825

Bernier, Patrice

90

707

Reo-Coker, Nigel

88

687

Cronin, Sam

87

762

Baca, Rafael

84

592

Michel

82

717

Gonçalves, José

81

569

Johnson, Will

80

778

Ashe, Corey

80

742

Holgersson, Markus

80

596

Beckerman, Kyle

79

799

Sarvas, Marcelo

79

612

Alonso, Osvaldo

78

580

Leading the league in recoveries is no small thing – Ozzie Alonso's done it each of the last two years, and is rightly regarded as one of the two best d-mids in the league. But Rosell could push himself into that conversation if he keeps playing at this level.

Dax McCarty, by the way, probably already belongs in that conversation. He was second in recoveries to Alonso last season, and would be leading the league this year if he hadn't missed the past couple of games through injury. It's fairly amazing that the Red Bulls have coped so well without him.

It took two games for Roy Miller to become a punchline this season, but since his return to the lineup in mid-April, the New York Red Bulls have gone 4-1-0. Here's a chart that should give you some idea as to why:

Team

Crossing Open Accuracy

Crosses/Corners Accuracy

New York Red Bulls

31.21

33.02

D.C. United

27.27

30.32

Colorado Rapids

26.67

30.9

LA Galaxy

25.56

29.26

Seattle Sounders FC

25.22

27.85

Montreal Impact

25

29.27

New England Revolution

24.32

23.58

Sporting Kansas City

22.78

30.37

Chivas USA

22.76

32.92

FC Dallas

22.48

23.16

Houston Dynamo

22.31

27.66

Chicago Fire

20.65

21.05

Vancouver Whitecaps

19.72

22.58

Philadelphia Union

19.23

25.13

Portland Timbers

19.08

20.19

Real Salt Lake

18.38

22.65

San Jose Earthquakes

18.32

23.1

Columbus Crew

16.13

27.27

Toronto FC

12.71

17.47

This is not to say that Miller, alone, is the cause for New York's crossing prowess. In fact, he rates significantly lower than Heath Pearce – the "other" left back in Mike Petke's rotation – by Opta's count.

But one of the best aspects of Thierry Henry's game is his ability to drop deep on the left, find space, then curl in a right-footed cross to the penalty spot – usually aiming for the head of Tim Cahill, who still excels at making those delayed runs from central midfield.

The reason Henry has all that space? Because Miller overlaps as relentlessly as any fullback in the league, dragging defenders away from the Frenchman, creating new passing lanes, and just making it harder to defend that side of the field.